With Orange and Prissy we went to all the shops in town and looked around for two hours. It was really hard shopping for someone you didn't know and it took us a long time to find something at least acceptable. I stopped when I saw a chrysanthemum shaped clothing brooch. Sverre was never drawn in the manhwa but we did see his shadow and he seemed to be holding a chrysanthemum. I knew it because that was the only flower I knew and it looked exactly like it. I stared at the gift for a few seconds and bought it. I always followed my instinct and it was telling me that this was the perfect gift.
Now that we had what we came looking for, I was ready to go home but the others didn't seem ready to leave. They stopped in front of a dress shop and looked at each other before smiling and turning towards me:
"Let's go inside, Pohina."
I smiled coming closer to the dresses that we could see from outside:
"Did you see a dress you like, Orange?"
I looked at the dresses in the shop window wondering which one was Orange's taste. She didn't like bows and liked wearing blue a lot because it was the color of my eyes. I did notice a blue dress but it was way fancier than I thought she would like. I tilted my head and looked back at Orange:
"Do you want to try that blue dress on?"
Orange shook her head and I was disappointed. I knew that she wasn't the type to try on such a dress but I would have loved to see her in it.
"You should put it on.
-Me?"
Orange and Prissy didn't wait for my answer and pushed me into the shop. They immediately asked the lady for the dress in the window and the next second I was in a changing room trying on that fine fabric. When I came out, Orange already had six other dresses in her arms but almost dropped all of them seeing me in the dress. She needed to sit down and that made me laugh:
"Am I that gorgeous?"
I was led to a mirror and turned to see how I looked. I quite liked this dress and I had to admit that Orange had an incredible taste. When I turned around, Orange was still staring at me with shining eyes:
"You are gorgeous."
I rubbed her head with a smile:
"Thank you."
She was ready to make me try on the other dresses but I shook my head:
"I won't be the only one trying on dresses. I want to see you all pretty too."
Still wearing the dress, I walked around the shop, Orange following me behind. She did look like Astéria following me to eat and that was adorable. Like a little duck who would do anything I said. I had to focus back and found multiple dresses I thought Orange would look amazing in. A purple dress because of her eyes, of course, a green dress that looked gorgeous and a pink dress because I really wanted to see Orange, all cute and girly. Orange took the dresses and went to the dressing room without a word. As she was changing, I decided to wait for her outside the dressing room but at the same time I heard someone walk into the shop.
I turned around and didn't think I would see Alastair. I was so surprised that I rubbed my eyes multiple times. What was he doing here? Alastair on the other hand didn't seem that shocked. He immediately saw me and walked up to me with a polite smile.
"How nice to see you here, Poehina. I have to say, this dress looks incredible on you. Blue really highlights the color of your eyes.
-Thank you. What are you doing here?"
Alastair sat down and tea immediately got served to him as well as biscuits.
"I'll be honest. I was already in town and when I heard that you were here I immediately rushed over here. I wanted to see what dress you would choose for the ball.
-Why?"
I frowned. I knew what he was going to say and I didn't like it. I didn't want to go to the ball dressed as a couple.
"So we could be coordinated.
-We are not married, yet, Alastair."
He pinched his lips before drinking some tea.
"I know that. But we are engaged. Everyone expects us to come as a couple.
-But we are not a couple. We are only engaged on paper and..."
I didn't have time to finish my sentence because Orange came out of the changing room wearing the pink dress I chose for her. Seeing her I couldn't hold back a gasp and felt my cheeks turn pink too. I ran up to her and jumped in place seeing her all cute:
"You are gorgeous! You look amazing! I am so happy I chose that dress."
Orange would have gone completely red if she didn't see our new guest. She stared at Alastair with cold eyes and placed herself between us. Getting reminded of the man, I smiled:
"I am so sorry, Alastair. But I already chose to wear pink with Orange."
I knew that Alastair wasn't going to wear pink. Pink was considered a "girl" color here and I never saw a man wear it before. Moreover, if I was wearing a dress similar to Orange's, Alastair wasn't going to be coordinated with two different women because polyamorous people were also taboo here. I had won. I hated this world but it came in handy now.
Orange quickly nodded and as expected, Alastair seemed uncomfortable. He pinched his lips and looked away before looking back at Orange:
"Poehina, could we talk in private?
-I have nothing to hide from Orange. So say what you have to say.
-Very well. Everyone expects us to come dressed as a couple, Poehina.
-You already said that. And I answered that we are not a couple.
-What am I going to look like if we don't come as a couple?"
I started smoking from inside:
"Okay. Stop right there. If you had sent me a letter to see me and asked me if I would mind, I would have said okay. But you coming here, telling me what I should do and being all selfish trying to guilt trip me. I am not having it. Leave.
-Poehina, it's not...
-Leave. We are engaged only on paper and I am going to break this engagement as soon as I turn 18. Leave."
Alastair wanted to say more but pinched his lips before standing up.
"I see. I am sorry I came. Have a nice day, ladies.
-Good bye."
As soon as Alastair left I signed and sat down rubbing my forehead.
"Why does he keep appearing at the worst time?"
Orange immediately kneeled down in front of me and gently pulled my hand away before putting her own hand on my forehead.
"Are you okay?"
I smiled:
"Of course I am. He is just so irritating. I needed a few minutes to cool down."
But I couldn't stop frowning. Something was disturbing me and Orange could feel it.
"What is wrong?"
I looked at her and realized that she was still kneeling on the ground so I quickly pulled her up and continued complimenting her dress:
"Now that he is gone we can finally focus on you. I love this dress, Orange. You could try on the other two but I think this is the one. Should I find a pink dress for myself too? We would look amazing together."
Orange started blushing:
"I would like that."
I started laughing:
"You are the only person I would dress up as a couple with."
Orange immediately froze and turned tomato red in a second. She looked so adorable that I wanted to hug her but she was so embarrassed that she ran away saying that she would look for a dress for me. I watched her leave while laughing but as she left and I was left alone, I had time to think back to the things that had happened.
Why did I stay here? Why did I stay in this horrible world without changing anything in it? I had been so focused on surviving and avoiding Astéria that I completely forgot everything else. I had years before meeting the female lead and was so happy with Orange that I completely settled into my comfortable everyday life without questioning anything. I always said that I would leave at 18 because that's when I would be an adult and that was when I had to marry Alastair. But why couldn't I leave earlier? What was holding me back? If I was stuck here, couldn't I change the world into something that I liked? Astéria was really nice and at first I was sure that she would start killing but what if she didn't? The book already changed so what if I could stay here and could break my engagement right away?